The applicant proposes to study the amounts of wealth heirs would receive for varying levels of population increase with a focus on the number of children sharing inheritances. If an economic elite were to perpetuate an economic elite in another generation, its strength should be embedded in inheritances dealing with children of deceased. Research will be directed to determining the level and inequality of amounts of inheritance of heirs if families were to have projected numbers of children as suggested in Census reports. The effects of this on the distribution of wealth among living of all and specific age groups will be examined. Several sources of data will be developed including probability samples of parents and their sons and daughters from the 1966-1970 National Longitudinal Surveys, sons and wealth of fathers from the 1850 and 1840 U.S. census manuscripts and intergenerational fertility of families from the three-and four-generation files of the Genealogical Library in Salt Lake City. This will be coupled with studies of inheritance tax data for Oregon, California, and other states.